Well the birthday has come and gone. The extra toys have found room on the shelves while old toys are now comfortable at Goodwill. We've eaten cake, popped the balloons, and almost stopped singing "happy birthday" every single day. In fact, now we've started talking about Mommy's birthday which is coming up in just over a week. But first, Ru's 2nd birthday...
October 27, 2012 was a busy day - Karl had a marriage workshop all day and Nana and Brad were presenting at the National IM conference, so poor Ruben was forced to celebrate his birthday for an entire week. We started the festivities on the 26th with Matt, Hannah, and Hallie, birthday presents, and homemade cake. Hallie provided the entertainment with the aid of her extremely loose tooth. Matt and Hannah held her down while the Fay crew cheered Hallie on and Matt extracted the loose tooth from a very traumatized six year old. Karl cut himself and Matt enormous hunks of cake that would have kept them fed for a week if they were lost in the wilderness. I was nauseated.
The next day Jan brought over her gifts, homemade pillows and blankets as well as a John Deere tractor toy. The rest of the week was spent playing with new toys because what could be better than new toys. The second round of presents happened a week later in Topeka as we prepared for Starla's wedding. He even got cake at the reception. But that's a story for another post.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Almost two
When people ask how old our kids are, I tell them June is three and a half and Ruben is almost two. However, I've been saying Ruben is almost two since he was 20 months old so now I feel like he might never actually turn two. We only have 16 more days of a one year old. And yet, for some time now, I have regarded Ruben as a two year old. I mean, he talks like a kid who is two and a half, he runs like a two year old, and for goodness sake, he gave up his nap three to four days a week without any negative side effects (as of yet). If my one year old no longer seems like a one year old, what will my two year old be?
All in all, Ruben is a delightful kid. He speaks in full sentences about what he wants or why we're doing something. "one car take with me outside." "big bite too hot; blow." "Dudie take my choo choo. **sniff sniff." Dudie is how he says Junie right now and I've never thought anything of it before, but when we were in Topeka this weekend, more than one person sniggered because it sounded like dog doodie. Never heard it that way before. He sings full songs like "I am the church" and "I will sing unto the Lord" (which has big words like victoriously and exalted and he attempts it all) and of course, "the snapping prayer." He can also recite the first four lines of Yankee Doodle all on his own. He can also recite June's bedtime prayer. We only know this because June was being stubborn one night so Ruben just piped in and said it for her. Huh. Guess he's been listening. He loves to read but more than anything he likes to find Goldbug. Uncle Paul bought him the book "Cars, and Trucks, and things that Go" for Christmas and now Ruben can find Goldbug on every single page without even looking at the page. Seriously, it is amazing.
Overall, this kid is a mover and a shaker. Tonight he discovered he could take the big wheel bike to the top of the driveway, pick his feet up, gather speed until he dumps himself out into the street (or when dad catches him before he dumps into the street). He lives for speed. Also, this afternoon he decided he wanted to go visit Charlie, who is a cat who belongs to our next door neighbor. The first time, he took June with him, but later on, I hear June yell from the front door, "Ruben is going to see Charlie." By the time I get outside he has already gone down the sidewalk, up Bob's driveway, and up onto their porch. Thankfully, I trust Bob and Judy tremendously, because I feel like this isn't the last time I will lose Ruben to Charlie.
As Karl and I consider having a baby in the house again, we start to consider what Ruben might be like as a big brother. Ruben loves babies and loves to kiss and hug them. But when the baby is in our own home, I wonder what kind of boundaries Ruben will attempt to cross when it comes to manhandling this poor child. Sorry Fetal Fay, start preparing now for life on the outside.
All in all, Ruben is a delightful kid. He speaks in full sentences about what he wants or why we're doing something. "one car take with me outside." "big bite too hot; blow." "Dudie take my choo choo. **sniff sniff." Dudie is how he says Junie right now and I've never thought anything of it before, but when we were in Topeka this weekend, more than one person sniggered because it sounded like dog doodie. Never heard it that way before. He sings full songs like "I am the church" and "I will sing unto the Lord" (which has big words like victoriously and exalted and he attempts it all) and of course, "the snapping prayer." He can also recite the first four lines of Yankee Doodle all on his own. He can also recite June's bedtime prayer. We only know this because June was being stubborn one night so Ruben just piped in and said it for her. Huh. Guess he's been listening. He loves to read but more than anything he likes to find Goldbug. Uncle Paul bought him the book "Cars, and Trucks, and things that Go" for Christmas and now Ruben can find Goldbug on every single page without even looking at the page. Seriously, it is amazing.
Overall, this kid is a mover and a shaker. Tonight he discovered he could take the big wheel bike to the top of the driveway, pick his feet up, gather speed until he dumps himself out into the street (or when dad catches him before he dumps into the street). He lives for speed. Also, this afternoon he decided he wanted to go visit Charlie, who is a cat who belongs to our next door neighbor. The first time, he took June with him, but later on, I hear June yell from the front door, "Ruben is going to see Charlie." By the time I get outside he has already gone down the sidewalk, up Bob's driveway, and up onto their porch. Thankfully, I trust Bob and Judy tremendously, because I feel like this isn't the last time I will lose Ruben to Charlie.
As Karl and I consider having a baby in the house again, we start to consider what Ruben might be like as a big brother. Ruben loves babies and loves to kiss and hug them. But when the baby is in our own home, I wonder what kind of boundaries Ruben will attempt to cross when it comes to manhandling this poor child. Sorry Fetal Fay, start preparing now for life on the outside.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The Girl, the Boy, the Yet to be Known
The last 13 weeks have been filled with a lot of really good things that I would have loved to blog about, but I've been tired. It seems that the third child from the start reminds me that we will soon be out numbered and we should start getting used to the feeling of permanent exhaustion. For a few weeks I managed to nap during Ruben's nap, but times have changed and now I just make it through the days any way I can even if that means I go to bed at 9:30 (like I did last night).
So an update is long overdue, so we'll just cram everything into this one blog post and find out who really reads this blog and who just reads the posts with pictures.
June is 3 and a half and really starting to find her voice in the family. She's detail oriented and is starting to get the hang of being in charge. "Mom (serious face), I think this is a good plan." And then she launches into the plan which is usually something incredibly mundane but that includes her getting a vitamin or a snack (I bought gummy vitamins a few weeks back and we haven't missed a single day of vitamins since). She loves to be helpful and I try to let her help as much as possible even if that means not actually getting the task accomplished up to my standards. Her favorite way to help is to take the spray bottle and rag and spray the front window and wipe it. It is about 80% spraying, 5% wiping, and 15% telling me what she's doing. Tomorrow is her fourth week of dance class. She loves it and starts asking Tuesdays when she gets dance class again. Next week I get to peek in on her progress and they do a little show and tell at the end of class. June also had the opportunity to be a flower girl in Aunt Kristen's wedding. She and Lucy looked adorable in their dresses, but when the time came for them to walk down the aisle, June got a rock in her shoe and cried the whole way and Lucy held one flower petal in her hand as she smiled at everyone, put the flower petal at the bottom of the stairs, and came and sat with me and June who had stopped crying once the stone was out. Five minutes later, Lucy asks when she gets to throw the petals. Oops. Not well rehearsed, but like I said, they were adorable.
Here are the kids at the wedding. Ruben had his fingers in his mouth the whole time and look, he's got a binky in his mouth. He's not sucking on it. He uses it just for chewing. We have not been conservative with the tylenol.
So an update is long overdue, so we'll just cram everything into this one blog post and find out who really reads this blog and who just reads the posts with pictures.
June is 3 and a half and really starting to find her voice in the family. She's detail oriented and is starting to get the hang of being in charge. "Mom (serious face), I think this is a good plan." And then she launches into the plan which is usually something incredibly mundane but that includes her getting a vitamin or a snack (I bought gummy vitamins a few weeks back and we haven't missed a single day of vitamins since). She loves to be helpful and I try to let her help as much as possible even if that means not actually getting the task accomplished up to my standards. Her favorite way to help is to take the spray bottle and rag and spray the front window and wipe it. It is about 80% spraying, 5% wiping, and 15% telling me what she's doing. Tomorrow is her fourth week of dance class. She loves it and starts asking Tuesdays when she gets dance class again. Next week I get to peek in on her progress and they do a little show and tell at the end of class. June also had the opportunity to be a flower girl in Aunt Kristen's wedding. She and Lucy looked adorable in their dresses, but when the time came for them to walk down the aisle, June got a rock in her shoe and cried the whole way and Lucy held one flower petal in her hand as she smiled at everyone, put the flower petal at the bottom of the stairs, and came and sat with me and June who had stopped crying once the stone was out. Five minutes later, Lucy asks when she gets to throw the petals. Oops. Not well rehearsed, but like I said, they were adorable.
On to Ruben. Ruben is a motor mouth and a motor fanatic. He spends the day echoing whatever he hears and coming up with his own adorable conversation as well. Already he's pretending with toy animals. It's crazy. He also is obsessed with motorcycles, trains, boats, cars, trucks, and anything else that moves. He's never without a toy car in his hand, preferably Lightning McQueen. If he can't find a car, he might just turn a piece of food or a scrap of paper into a car or boat. His favorite book is Richard Scary's "Cars and Trucks and Things that Go. " Uncle Paul bought it for his for Christmas last year and it sat on the shelf until a few weeks ago and now he reads it 2-3 times a day. He can find goldbug on every page almost as fast as I can. As a child I didn't realize how little plot that book presents. I'd love to read something that had fewer cars and more character development, but those are my preferences, not his.
We've struggled with sleep with Ruben off an on since he was seven months old. He's cutting his last two eye teeth and we've hit another stretch of fighting sleep. Naptimes were fine as long as he fell asleep in the car, but if we try to fall asleep at home, we're talking an hour of fighting before he gives in or I give in. I've tried letting him read books in bed until he falls asleep - an hour of reading books and still no sleep. I've tried bribing, I've tried punishing, I've tried crying. No avail. Night time is the same, except Karl is usually around to be the buffer and enforcer. He is more effective than I am, but it still was taking nearly an hour of cajoling to get him down. We're tired of all the fighting. This week we're trying no naps and a super early bedtime. The daytime is generally fine without a nap although when he's hungry there is no messing around. Food immediately is what he requires. Last night Karl took them on a bike ride in pajamas in our new kid trailer and Ru fell asleep on the trip. Tonight I took them on a walk in pajamas, and Ru fell asleep on the trip. I'm willing to keep this up as long as the weather holds if it means less fighting the bedtime routine.
Baby Fay # 3 was first sighted Monday at our midwife appointment. Karl and I were able to go to the appointment together without the kids. We bypassed the initial ultrasound to save money so were excited to hear the heartbeat together. After hearing the little heartbeat (154 bpm), our midwife very kindly offered to do an in-office ultrasound with their new little gadget. It was from Star Trek and looked like a flip phone iPod. A little chilly gel and 3 seconds later and we caught our first glimpse of Fetal Fay. All curled up in a ball, we saw all the little arms and legs and our third child was all the more real to us. Yikes! We're having a baby!
Saturday, September 22, 2012
June and Dad do art. Part 2 of "a lot of times"
June and I did some art today. We started by painting and worked our way over to drawing.
Today, if there was a "lesson" it was "relationships in space."
June is sitting in my lap right now and really wants to type: ytytytttyrrytttytttttttttttttttyygjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
(Resume relaying conversation from earlier)
"What do you want to paint, June?"
"A bridge!!!"
"Do you want to paint it like we're walking on it or like we're seeing it?"
"I wanna paint it like we're walking on it AND seeing it!"
"What color is the bridge?"
"RED!"
(We walked on a red bridge two Mondays ago at Credit Island here in the Quad Cities.)
"What is under the bridge?"
"A river!"
And so we painted the above picture together.
June really wants to type again:
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (june, mom, dad, ruben)
Here dad drew a shape and colored it in with the marker. And then June drew the shape and colored it in on the other side of the paper. At first she wanted me to draw dots so she could connect the points of the shape. That worked okay, but THEN we tried a little blind contour drawing. I drew the shape and then she drew the matching shape by looking at the shape I drew instead of what she was actually drawing. Her heart in the upper right corner was the coolest one; her flower on the bottom was a close second. So embarrassed when I really praised her about the heart, she buried her head in my shoulder.
Again, June would like to share: ghhgfghhfgfytyftyytttytyrtrutryutryuryyryuhgttghytgyttttutguhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggttttttttttttttttttttuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuulllllllllllllllllllllllllllllkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkknnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqwedffgghl
There were some toys laying around so we collected a little "still life." At first dad just set it up but then June really took off and enjoyed arranging the dog in funny ways. She'd step back and hold her hand in front of her mouth as she giggled to herself and then nod to me like "Isn't this hilarious, Dad?"
By now, about 2 hours have passed and June is ready for snack, while Kendra and Ruben are just waking up from a little quality quiet time. Always a good afternoon when I can have a little right brain geek-out with my daughter! More to come sometime...
Today, if there was a "lesson" it was "relationships in space."
June is sitting in my lap right now and really wants to type: ytytytttyrrytttytttttttttttttttyygjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
"What do you want to paint, June?"
"A bridge!!!"
"Do you want to paint it like we're walking on it or like we're seeing it?"
"I wanna paint it like we're walking on it AND seeing it!"
"What color is the bridge?"
"RED!"
(We walked on a red bridge two Mondays ago at Credit Island here in the Quad Cities.)
"What is under the bridge?"
"A river!"
And so we painted the above picture together.
June really wants to type again:
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (june, mom, dad, ruben)
Here dad drew a shape and colored it in with the marker. And then June drew the shape and colored it in on the other side of the paper. At first she wanted me to draw dots so she could connect the points of the shape. That worked okay, but THEN we tried a little blind contour drawing. I drew the shape and then she drew the matching shape by looking at the shape I drew instead of what she was actually drawing. Her heart in the upper right corner was the coolest one; her flower on the bottom was a close second. So embarrassed when I really praised her about the heart, she buried her head in my shoulder.
Again, June would like to share: ghhgfghhfgfytyftyytttytyrtrutryutryuryyryuhgttghytgyttttutguhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggttttttttttttttttttttuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuulllllllllllllllllllllllllllllkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkknnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqwedffgghl
There were some toys laying around so we collected a little "still life." At first dad just set it up but then June really took off and enjoyed arranging the dog in funny ways. She'd step back and hold her hand in front of her mouth as she giggled to herself and then nod to me like "Isn't this hilarious, Dad?"
By now, about 2 hours have passed and June is ready for snack, while Kendra and Ruben are just waking up from a little quality quiet time. Always a good afternoon when I can have a little right brain geek-out with my daughter! More to come sometime...
Monday, September 3, 2012
Oh and our kids are amazing too
After writing so much about my fun time canning, I figure I should mention that our kids are amazing as well. They hung out with the Casad's two daughters the whole time and played beautifully (it helps to have such great girls to hang out with). Then tonight when we got home they sat on the bottom step and read a book together the whole time I made dinner. No fighting at all. Then we had popsicles. They are super cute with chocolate all over their faces.
Can-A-Thon
I usually don't post about myself, but this weekend I indulged in some time spent on things that I love to do. Namely saving some money, working with fresh ingredients, and hanging out with great friends. That's right, you guessed it! I was part of the first ever Casad/Fay Can-A-Thon. Now I know you're thinking to yourself, "wow that's exciting....what exactly is a can-a-thon?" Let me start at the beginning.
It all started when our neighbor left for a long weekend and asked us to help harvest tomatoes while he was gone. No problem. Except Bob and Judy have about eight tomato plants that produce eight million tomatoes. June and I would go over with a basket during naptime and I could sit in one spot next to his tomato jungle and pick a bushel of tomatoes (I actually don't know what a bushel is, but it was a lot of tomatoes). So I had all these tomatoes and a person can only eat so many BLT's before you need to find something else to do with tomatoes. I called Jan, and soon I was set up to can tomatoes. Then I attempted salsa, then marinara sauce, and finally I made some seasoned crushed tomatoes (they were supposed to be marinara but I ran out of time to simmer them so just canned them before they turned into marinara). I mentioned this to my good friend Annette who started telling me stories of canning with her mother. I thought to myself, "this is awesome! Annette actually knows how to do this stuff. I could learn a lot from her!" So I mentioned we should can sometime together. Whether she thought it was a good idea or not, all of sudden we had a can-a-thon planned for Labor Day weekend. She had grapes that would be ready for jelly, tomatoes for salsa (we provided some jalapenos), and a nearby abandoned apple orchard would provide a place for the kids to romp around as well as provide some applesauce. Saturday night we started romping in the apple orchard picking a couple bushels of apples (really, bushels), we cut up ingredients for salsa (my hands only stung slightly from the peppers), and we cleaned, sorted, and smashed grapes for jelly. At the end of the night we were tired and didn't have much to show for our work but five bags of grapes hanging in a pot and two large pots of chopped up veggies. However, I had learned a lot about grapes already and no one had chopped off any fingers with the newly sharpened knives. Not bad for one evening.
All day Sunday I was dying to go back. I wanted something to show for our work but we were exhausted after a day of church and anyway, shouldn't we labor on Labor Day? So bright and early (10 am) we headed back to casa del Casad and started in on a marathon of canning. Karl, Doug, James, and Annette's mom Agnes peeled, sliced, dewormed, and soaked 3 vats of apples while Annette and I jellied and salsa-ed. Jelly is awesome. You start out with cloudy light purple juice and end up with crystal clear purple jems. I think we canned about 16 pints of concord grape jelly. On to salsa. 7 quarts of salsa later (and one for the fridge) it was time to start on all those apples. We tried something new. Apple pie filling. 14 quarts of pie filling (that's 7 pies worth) went really quickly and we were on to applesauce. Amazingly we were running short of cleaned and cut apples, so the new team of apple cutters (me, Doug, and Agnes) went to work. By the time we finished the second full bucket of apples, we had 6 quarts of applesauce and 4 or so more to can. It was also getting close to 5 pm so the Fays called it a night and let the Casad's finish up the hard work.
I had high hopes for our can-a-thon, but I never thought I would have such an amazing sense of accomplishment after a weekend of tough work. Looking at those jars lined up on the counter, growing by the hour, was so rewarding. So if you want to hang out some time and make me a very happy person, just pull out a bushel of some amazing home-grown ingredient and tell me I'm spending my day canning. I'll give you a big hug and kiss. And I'll even let you keep some of the result.
It all started when our neighbor left for a long weekend and asked us to help harvest tomatoes while he was gone. No problem. Except Bob and Judy have about eight tomato plants that produce eight million tomatoes. June and I would go over with a basket during naptime and I could sit in one spot next to his tomato jungle and pick a bushel of tomatoes (I actually don't know what a bushel is, but it was a lot of tomatoes). So I had all these tomatoes and a person can only eat so many BLT's before you need to find something else to do with tomatoes. I called Jan, and soon I was set up to can tomatoes. Then I attempted salsa, then marinara sauce, and finally I made some seasoned crushed tomatoes (they were supposed to be marinara but I ran out of time to simmer them so just canned them before they turned into marinara). I mentioned this to my good friend Annette who started telling me stories of canning with her mother. I thought to myself, "this is awesome! Annette actually knows how to do this stuff. I could learn a lot from her!" So I mentioned we should can sometime together. Whether she thought it was a good idea or not, all of sudden we had a can-a-thon planned for Labor Day weekend. She had grapes that would be ready for jelly, tomatoes for salsa (we provided some jalapenos), and a nearby abandoned apple orchard would provide a place for the kids to romp around as well as provide some applesauce. Saturday night we started romping in the apple orchard picking a couple bushels of apples (really, bushels), we cut up ingredients for salsa (my hands only stung slightly from the peppers), and we cleaned, sorted, and smashed grapes for jelly. At the end of the night we were tired and didn't have much to show for our work but five bags of grapes hanging in a pot and two large pots of chopped up veggies. However, I had learned a lot about grapes already and no one had chopped off any fingers with the newly sharpened knives. Not bad for one evening.
All day Sunday I was dying to go back. I wanted something to show for our work but we were exhausted after a day of church and anyway, shouldn't we labor on Labor Day? So bright and early (10 am) we headed back to casa del Casad and started in on a marathon of canning. Karl, Doug, James, and Annette's mom Agnes peeled, sliced, dewormed, and soaked 3 vats of apples while Annette and I jellied and salsa-ed. Jelly is awesome. You start out with cloudy light purple juice and end up with crystal clear purple jems. I think we canned about 16 pints of concord grape jelly. On to salsa. 7 quarts of salsa later (and one for the fridge) it was time to start on all those apples. We tried something new. Apple pie filling. 14 quarts of pie filling (that's 7 pies worth) went really quickly and we were on to applesauce. Amazingly we were running short of cleaned and cut apples, so the new team of apple cutters (me, Doug, and Agnes) went to work. By the time we finished the second full bucket of apples, we had 6 quarts of applesauce and 4 or so more to can. It was also getting close to 5 pm so the Fays called it a night and let the Casad's finish up the hard work.
I had high hopes for our can-a-thon, but I never thought I would have such an amazing sense of accomplishment after a weekend of tough work. Looking at those jars lined up on the counter, growing by the hour, was so rewarding. So if you want to hang out some time and make me a very happy person, just pull out a bushel of some amazing home-grown ingredient and tell me I'm spending my day canning. I'll give you a big hug and kiss. And I'll even let you keep some of the result.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Daddy Daughter Drawing
Karl is an amazing dad for many reasons but one of my favorite things he does with the kids is include them in art projects. Right now he's downstairs drawing blue herons with June. They end up with an amazing piece of art that June feels like she actually contributed to, and yet it is truly a work of art and not just in a sentimental way. Yesterday they painted with watercolors again and he was teaching her how to look at an image and try to draw it. It was all a bit too right-brained for me, but June seemed very engaged. They even sign the artwork JD'12 for June/Dad instead of KF'12. Ruben doesn't sit still long enough to really do projects with Dad yet, but I know that he will someday, and if he's not interested in doing art, I bet Karl will find something special that only Ruben and Dad will do together.
The Lake, Part II
Last week we had the enormous joy of returning to the Lake for a few days. The kids and I were at the Lake for two weeks earlier in June for Brad's wedding and some vacation time. Karl was able to join us for the first week, but since we have an ungodly number of family weddings this year, we had to reserve his vacation days for those wonderful events. Quite frankly, he didn't miss out. By the time Karl left, we were well on our way through a hideous stomach flu. I don't think the Lake has ever seen so much puke. A second trip to the Lake was needed just to redeem the place of all those gory memories. Kory and Cara and their kids were also able to join us to make this the second annual Fay invasion of Weller Inn. After such a dry and hot July, the water was really low which created a beautiful little beach for the kids to play on. And play they did. Sam, Lucy, and June are old enough now to really carry on all by themselves. Give them a few trucks, Dora dolls, random figurines, and stuffed animals and they are content for hours. Ruben will even join in for 20-30 minutes at a time before he and June start fighting over the same toys. The adults enjoyed watching the kids play together, holding meaningful conversations and playing angry birds on Kory and Cara's new Kindle Fire. None of us had ever played before, and it was fun to watch the brothers talking strategy while sitting on the couch in the great room after the kids were in bed. When the kids needed a little separating, I took a kid with me next door and sat on the front porch to work on an adult puzzle while Aunt Pootie entertained the whiney kid. Those are always some of my favorite Lake moments - sitting quietly with the Lake in view talking to someone I've known my whole life. Even though we only see each other a few day or hours a year, we're family and there's no question of how much we love each other. Overall, a much needed respite. Although next time, we're not going to let the Fay boys be in charge of buying donuts. Seriously, 2 dozen donuts for 4 adults and 5 children? That's 3 donuts a piece. Do you really think Kye is going to eat 3 donuts?
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
If you keep up with the gossip, you should probably read this post
When we got pregnant for the first time, it was all so new and exciting. We called Nana and Papa (just regular old Mom and Dad at the time) immediately, couldn't hold the secret in for more than four days, and were confused at how some couples could keep the secret until after the first trimester. Yikes, we couldn't even make it past the 5th week (which if you read all the books, you know is more like the 3rd week). Pregnancy was full of new developments (fatigue, energy, fatigue, no pork sausage) and lots of learning. I planned to be thoroughly prepared for this child in every way shape and form.The planning, the registering at stores, the showers, the long walks toward week 40, the extra-long walks through two foot snow by week 41, and "TA-DA!" it's June Elaine Fay!
Pregnancy number two was a bit of a miscommunication all around. I took the pregnancy test too early and thought I wasn't pregnant, then by ultrasound three months later learned that I should wait a few extra days before taking a test since I was in fact pregnant. We still ended up telling everyone as soon as we knew but that turned out to be week 9 or so. The fatigue I felt during the first trimester seemed much more severe with Ruben, but probably just because instead of having the freedom to nap every afternoon, I was chasing a 18 month old. Later ultrasounds made the doctors nervous so I had to have more ultrasounds just to find out that they were basing the measurements on a child two weeks younger than mine. Of course his head is huge, he's a Fay and he's older than your calculations! No need for books or showers or registries. We have all the stuff, all the knowledge I gained from books ended up feeling irrelevant in the midst of actual parenting, and quite frankly, we were already receiving enough gifts from congregation members to fill the new nursery. Five days before my due date, my friend Jess and I walk super duper fast around the mall and the next evening "TA-DA!" it's Ruben Erik Fay!
So far for Baby Fay # 3 (catch the gossip, folks), it's standard fare. We told grandparents right away, although Nana and Papa wouldn't answer their phone and we were afraid we'd get impatient and leave a note like this on our Facebook statuses:
If Tim and Lori Schmidt would've answered the 14 missed calls or 5 voice messages, they wouldn't be finding out about their third grandchild on Facebook. Sorry, folks, that's what you get for ignoring those annoying children of yours :)
The fatigue of the first trimester seems twice as bad as it was with Ruben (probably because I'm chasing a nearly two year old and three and a half year old). I'm pretty sure pork in general is on the list of things I won't be eating for a while which is really sad because BLT's sound tasty, but the thought of bacon frying turns my stomach. We've had great plans for how we'll announce this baby, but in general, we end up just telling people. As for the rest of pregnancy, I can only pray it is as smooth and easy as the first two have been. We'll also pray for another successful VBAC. And we'll pray this poor PK isn't born on Easter Sunday, because given the trajectory of past pregnancies, that looks to be when we'll be expecting this new little joy!
Pregnancy number two was a bit of a miscommunication all around. I took the pregnancy test too early and thought I wasn't pregnant, then by ultrasound three months later learned that I should wait a few extra days before taking a test since I was in fact pregnant. We still ended up telling everyone as soon as we knew but that turned out to be week 9 or so. The fatigue I felt during the first trimester seemed much more severe with Ruben, but probably just because instead of having the freedom to nap every afternoon, I was chasing a 18 month old. Later ultrasounds made the doctors nervous so I had to have more ultrasounds just to find out that they were basing the measurements on a child two weeks younger than mine. Of course his head is huge, he's a Fay and he's older than your calculations! No need for books or showers or registries. We have all the stuff, all the knowledge I gained from books ended up feeling irrelevant in the midst of actual parenting, and quite frankly, we were already receiving enough gifts from congregation members to fill the new nursery. Five days before my due date, my friend Jess and I walk super duper fast around the mall and the next evening "TA-DA!" it's Ruben Erik Fay!
So far for Baby Fay # 3 (catch the gossip, folks), it's standard fare. We told grandparents right away, although Nana and Papa wouldn't answer their phone and we were afraid we'd get impatient and leave a note like this on our Facebook statuses:
If Tim and Lori Schmidt would've answered the 14 missed calls or 5 voice messages, they wouldn't be finding out about their third grandchild on Facebook. Sorry, folks, that's what you get for ignoring those annoying children of yours :)
The fatigue of the first trimester seems twice as bad as it was with Ruben (probably because I'm chasing a nearly two year old and three and a half year old). I'm pretty sure pork in general is on the list of things I won't be eating for a while which is really sad because BLT's sound tasty, but the thought of bacon frying turns my stomach. We've had great plans for how we'll announce this baby, but in general, we end up just telling people. As for the rest of pregnancy, I can only pray it is as smooth and easy as the first two have been. We'll also pray for another successful VBAC. And we'll pray this poor PK isn't born on Easter Sunday, because given the trajectory of past pregnancies, that looks to be when we'll be expecting this new little joy!
Monday, August 6, 2012
June and Daddy make art.
I (Karl) have been closely following Kendra's blog ever since she started writing the "follies," and while I've been deeply involved in the ongoing life that has been chronicled here, I have not as of yet contributed anything in the way of writing...
June and dad have shared lots of special time making projects, from mom's birthday drawing to June's halloween costume to birthday cards for friends and family.
The other night we had a daddy/daughter date to the Figge Art Museum. She thoroughly enjoyed the hour and 45 minutes we spent at the Figge (both looking at art in several of the galleries and making art in the awesome Artica gallery), but when asked what her favorite part of our outing was, it was the apple dumpling a la mode we shared at Woodfire Grill afterward (no contest here!).
Today was a cool day. I promised before telling June she needed to take a "quiet time" that I would do some art with her. She did not fall asleep during her quiet time, and she held me to that promise. :)
So as Kendra and Ruben got a nap in, June and I put on some Bon Iver and set up an easel to do some watercolor painting.
Watching my 3-year-old girl dance around our kitchen on her tiptoes to "Skinny Love" while watercolor painting was a beautiful experience for this proud dad.
After doing a couple of paintings making marks independently, I decided to see how June would do mimicking brush strokes. So I picked a color and painted a letter and then encouraged her to do the same color and mark on the other side of the paper. In between colors she learned to dip the brush in the water and "tap tap tap" the side of the cup before getting a new color.
Then we switched order. She chose the colors and made the marks she wanted and I echoed her. It was a cool, colorful, conversation. June very carefully crafted her sun with radiating beams; then her face took on a bit of an onery smile as she dipped into the black paint and then proceeded to smash the brush into the paper and watch the paint splatter a bit. She got a kick out of my echo and was sure to coach and correct me if I didn't apply the same force as she had...
All in all, we made 5 18" x 24" paintings. Time flew quickly, and in retrospect I'm impressed but not necessarily surprised with June's attention span for our painting project.
Art is a gift to be shared with others, so I asked June to whom she'd like to give a painting. "Jan!" was her reply. So after writing a quick note to our neighbor, friend, adoptive grandmother, we delivered one to Jan.
What better first gallery space for a 3-year-old's painting than Jan's fridge, held in place with 4 heart magnets...
I'm so grateful for June's interest in art, and the outlet that it gives for me to share something near and dear to me with my daughter. While I don't want to force June into doing things that I'm interested in, I cherish the moments we have painting and drawing and cutting, and I hope there are many more to come.
June and dad have shared lots of special time making projects, from mom's birthday drawing to June's halloween costume to birthday cards for friends and family.
The other night we had a daddy/daughter date to the Figge Art Museum. She thoroughly enjoyed the hour and 45 minutes we spent at the Figge (both looking at art in several of the galleries and making art in the awesome Artica gallery), but when asked what her favorite part of our outing was, it was the apple dumpling a la mode we shared at Woodfire Grill afterward (no contest here!).
Today was a cool day. I promised before telling June she needed to take a "quiet time" that I would do some art with her. She did not fall asleep during her quiet time, and she held me to that promise. :)
So as Kendra and Ruben got a nap in, June and I put on some Bon Iver and set up an easel to do some watercolor painting.
Watching my 3-year-old girl dance around our kitchen on her tiptoes to "Skinny Love" while watercolor painting was a beautiful experience for this proud dad.
After doing a couple of paintings making marks independently, I decided to see how June would do mimicking brush strokes. So I picked a color and painted a letter and then encouraged her to do the same color and mark on the other side of the paper. In between colors she learned to dip the brush in the water and "tap tap tap" the side of the cup before getting a new color.
Art is a gift to be shared with others, so I asked June to whom she'd like to give a painting. "Jan!" was her reply. So after writing a quick note to our neighbor, friend, adoptive grandmother, we delivered one to Jan.
What better first gallery space for a 3-year-old's painting than Jan's fridge, held in place with 4 heart magnets...
I'm so grateful for June's interest in art, and the outlet that it gives for me to share something near and dear to me with my daughter. While I don't want to force June into doing things that I'm interested in, I cherish the moments we have painting and drawing and cutting, and I hope there are many more to come.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Jan
Have I ever blogged about Jan? If I haven't, then the world has been missing out on one fantastic lady (who is not on the internet herself in any way shape or form). I write about Jan tonight for two reasons. One, our kids love Jan and behave like angels around her no matter how they were acting at home two minutes before. Second, last night I was reminded what it means to live in a community with a true neighbor who is there when you need to borrow the proverbial cup of sugar. But first things first. The kids have been pretty "mine, mine, mine" lately. You would think that the three year old could manage to stand tall and not stoop to the level of the 20 month old, but unfortunately, most of the time she's leading the charge on that front. A lot of it has to do with her refusal to nap or rest during the middle of the day. I know I'm to blame because I could force her to take a rest, I just don't want to go through the hassle of breaking her into a new routine and until 3:30 in the afternoon she's fine. By the time I remember I was going to make her rest, I'm well into dinner making and it just doesn't happen. All this to say, at times I want to give the kids away and Jan is always ready to take them. They love her house with its special toys (mostly matchbox cars, McDonalds toys, dollar store junk, and leftover Fisher Price stuff from the 50's). They love her magic bag that she carries everywhere (Hyvee, church, the Y) because it always has some special treat. Usually it is just a bag of random cereals, crackers, raisins, two or three candies, dry marshmallows, etc. When I make snacks like that, they are frowned on, but from Jan's magical bag they are treasured for decades. On Wednesday mornings, Jan goes to "coffee" at Hyvee with a group of 8-10 other retired women and these ladies have character! We stop by from time to time so Jan can show the kids off to her friends. A few times we've shown up and Jan wasn't there, but the ladies still love to see the kids, but no one else has a magical bag so we don't stick around as long. There are always comments on how well-behaved, animated, and friendly the kids are. I'm sure the ladies are all aware that those attributes are only a facade June and Ruben put on when in public. There are rarely fights over "mine" or complaints about one snack bag having more "juicies" (fruit snacks). I suppose if they are going to behave well either at home or in public, I'd prefer it be public, but seriously, people, these kids can go at it. They're just normal kids at home.
The other reason I mention Jan is that yesterday I had the inkling to can some tomatoes (long story, but we're babysitting the garden next door for a few days and there is no way one family could ever consume that many tomatoes). I called Jan to see if she had a canner or at least a really large pot so I could process the jars. June and I walked over right before bedtime and walked away with not only a canner that she said is mine now, but also four banana muffins, canning salt, the knowledge that there are two whole flats of jars in her garage that I can use once I run out of mine, and a strategy for canning that sounded way easier than the internet's way. Oh, and if I don't want to store that huge pot she'll put it back in her basement, but I can still have it any time I want. Jan's purse may be magical to the kids, but her basement has a magical quality for me. I've dabbled in sewing but hate to spend money on fabric when I'm such a poor seamstress. Jan's basement is literally filled with fabric and every time I come to take some, she tries to give me more. Nothing it terribly fancy or modern, but there are some really awesome vintage prints, every type of fabric ever made, thread, buttons, snaps, and more knowledge than the internet can ever give me. I've attempted a lot of projects simply because of that basement. That last bit about the basement was a sidebar, back to the story. So last night I canned six quarts of tomatoes using Jan's mother's old German strategy and they are awesome. Plus I have enough tomatoes left to attempt salsa later this week, but I'll need to ask the neighbor if I can borrow a few more jars.
The other reason I mention Jan is that yesterday I had the inkling to can some tomatoes (long story, but we're babysitting the garden next door for a few days and there is no way one family could ever consume that many tomatoes). I called Jan to see if she had a canner or at least a really large pot so I could process the jars. June and I walked over right before bedtime and walked away with not only a canner that she said is mine now, but also four banana muffins, canning salt, the knowledge that there are two whole flats of jars in her garage that I can use once I run out of mine, and a strategy for canning that sounded way easier than the internet's way. Oh, and if I don't want to store that huge pot she'll put it back in her basement, but I can still have it any time I want. Jan's purse may be magical to the kids, but her basement has a magical quality for me. I've dabbled in sewing but hate to spend money on fabric when I'm such a poor seamstress. Jan's basement is literally filled with fabric and every time I come to take some, she tries to give me more. Nothing it terribly fancy or modern, but there are some really awesome vintage prints, every type of fabric ever made, thread, buttons, snaps, and more knowledge than the internet can ever give me. I've attempted a lot of projects simply because of that basement. That last bit about the basement was a sidebar, back to the story. So last night I canned six quarts of tomatoes using Jan's mother's old German strategy and they are awesome. Plus I have enough tomatoes left to attempt salsa later this week, but I'll need to ask the neighbor if I can borrow a few more jars.
Jan and June last Halloween
Friday, July 27, 2012
Craftiness on a Friday
Look Pinterest isn't just a waste of time. I managed to make this cozy car holder for our church bag. It really only took one naptime.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Pronunciation
Ruben's language has exploded. He repeats anything you say (careful!) and sometimes pronounces words in very silly ways. My favorite mispronunciation is Eep-Bup (clean up, wake up). He also has some Italian blood somewhere because suddenly he says Mommy-a, Daddy-a, Junia, etc.
However, he has reached the point in his speech development that he's starting to correct some of his mispronunciations. He now says wa-der instead of wa-wa (water). He can say Du-nee instead of Du-dee (Junie). Other words are becoming more clear, but what is truly astonishing is his ability to string words together in song. He'll say 3 words together in a sentence (usually about some motorized vehicle going somewhere), but he'll sing entire songs. Today in the car he sang Laurie Berkner's Moon Moon Moon like this "moon, moon, moon, sighning bight; moon, moon, moon; sighning bight, moon, moon, moon, sighning bight, moon, moon, moon sighning bight..." I let him go as long as I can stand it and then sing the rest of the song myself and he follows along just fine. The other song that he sings is He Reigns. At first I wasn't sure what he was saying. "Gory, Gory, Ha-ah-u-ah, Rain...Rain" What? He sang this for a few days, and I didn't know what to make of it. Then I stopped listening to him, and realized he was singing this song. I'm sure he first heard it on the radio, because I haven't sung it since we lived in St Louis. The next time it came on the radio, we were all so excited to have put together the puzzle of what Ruben said!
With all his new pronunciation ability, I'm realizing that he's growing into a little boy and isn't a baby anymore. Parts of this are amazing (like the ability to sleep on his own), but at the same time, I grieve the loss of that baby boy I used to cuddle. Fortunately I know we have at least a few more years left of mispronunciation. June still pronounces a lot of Sp's like f's and ar's like u's. Let's just say, I don't like her talking about her SpARkly shoes in public.
However, he has reached the point in his speech development that he's starting to correct some of his mispronunciations. He now says wa-der instead of wa-wa (water). He can say Du-nee instead of Du-dee (Junie). Other words are becoming more clear, but what is truly astonishing is his ability to string words together in song. He'll say 3 words together in a sentence (usually about some motorized vehicle going somewhere), but he'll sing entire songs. Today in the car he sang Laurie Berkner's Moon Moon Moon like this "moon, moon, moon, sighning bight; moon, moon, moon; sighning bight, moon, moon, moon, sighning bight, moon, moon, moon sighning bight..." I let him go as long as I can stand it and then sing the rest of the song myself and he follows along just fine. The other song that he sings is He Reigns. At first I wasn't sure what he was saying. "Gory, Gory, Ha-ah-u-ah, Rain...Rain" What? He sang this for a few days, and I didn't know what to make of it. Then I stopped listening to him, and realized he was singing this song. I'm sure he first heard it on the radio, because I haven't sung it since we lived in St Louis. The next time it came on the radio, we were all so excited to have put together the puzzle of what Ruben said!
With all his new pronunciation ability, I'm realizing that he's growing into a little boy and isn't a baby anymore. Parts of this are amazing (like the ability to sleep on his own), but at the same time, I grieve the loss of that baby boy I used to cuddle. Fortunately I know we have at least a few more years left of mispronunciation. June still pronounces a lot of Sp's like f's and ar's like u's. Let's just say, I don't like her talking about her SpARkly shoes in public.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Dance Camp
Everyone is asking, "what are you doing for preschool for June?" Trinity has a 3 year old program, but it is only 2 hours twice a week. That seems like an awful lot of driving, dropping off, and picking up, and you know how I feel about making meaningless trips in the car. If I felt like she needed more social skill building, I'd send her in a heartbeat, but if you've met June, you know that social skills are not lacking. Thankfully, a former teacher from Trinity who is now a stay at home mom, has set a standard for stay at home moms that doesn't include 3 year old preschool. So, June doesn't need to build social skills, I don't feel like driving, and there isn't an expectation that we'll attend preschool this year. Great. Done deal. Now the only problem seemed to be explaining to June why she can't go to school every day like Hallie.
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This is June on her last day of VBS. Explaining that there was no VBS the next day (Saturday), prompted a near breakdown. So somehow or another we needed some "school" for June this year. Given June's coordination (inherited from her father), we decided on a dance class. We found one at the family museum that got good reviews from friends, and gave me the opportunity to play at the family museum one on one with Ruben. We got the last spot available in the class of eight students that meets on Thursday mornings. It is fairly pricey (comparable to preschool, really), so we wanted to make sure she was actually going to like it. Thankfully, the museum offers dance camps during the summer. They meet for 45 minutes each morning for a week. After two days, I can say without a doubt that June is going to love dance class this year. She talks about her teacher all the time, has shown me how she learned to curtsey, and worn her leotard all day long for the last two days. Yesterday was Karl's day off so I had the freedom to watch the class from the window (instead of chasing Ruben around the museum). I have to say there is nothing cuter than a group of three year olds walking around the room picking up imaginary flowers and putting them in imaginary baskets, or bunny hopping down the center of the room, or best of all, taking turns in the middle of the circle to show off their own creative moves. I promise I'll post pictures at some point.
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Monday, July 23, 2012
Out of Focus
I have been trying for weeks to get a picture of Ruben smiling at the camera. I'm pretty sure his face is just actually out of focus because with all this technology in cameras and as many pictures as I've taken, you'd think I'd have one good picture. But no. Here is a sampling of the shots of Ruben smiling while looking at the camera. As you can tell, he's never in focus.
We have managed to get a few shots, but this is what he looks like in those.
Goofy
Messy
Mischievous
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Vocabulary
Our kids talk a lot. June is really into telling stories about her day and explaining the secret lives of blocks turned people. Ruben repeats everything you say and does so quite accurately. His desire to communicate is really starting to show forth. We've started watching the Youtube video of the Fire Truck Song by Ivan Ulz. The kids know they can push the space bar when the song is over and it will play again. Therefore, Ruben spends a good portion of his day either singing the fire truck song or asking for us to play the fire truck song (more of the latter unfortunately). As annoying as it can be, he is super cute when he starts singing "fire duck, fire duck, ride fire duck." Here's the link just in case you haven't had the pure joy of listening to this song. Fire Truck Song
June, the helper
I knew at some point, June was going to be a really good helper. She loves to participate with household chores and wants to be around people. Up to this point, her helping wasn't really helpful. When she would help with dishes, she would just play in the sink and end up dumping water on the floor. When it was time to clean up toys, the toys always ended up being too distracting and I would spend more time encouraging her to clean up than she would actually clean. But to quote my favorite Dr. Seuss book, "The time has come, the time is NOW!" June is actually helpful!
The last few days she has been helping Karl fix the leg of the keyboard up at church. We had rented it out for a wedding a few weeks ago and then when I went to pull it out of the closet, the foot had come off and the particle board was all busted. Darn. So June and Dad have traveled to Menards a couple times looking for the right pieces and getting everything all set. She loves to help and insists on carrying big heavy pieces of wood all through the store. When Karl mentioned he was going to finish the project this afternoon, she nearly had a conniption fit from the excitement. When she comes home she's so quick to tell me all about the things she's done.
When it comes to chores, she's beginning to really be helpful as well. When I wash dishes she can pull her stool over and rinse them for me. She knows enough to only help rinse the plastic and non-breakable dishes, and avoids knives altogether. When we're cleaning, she manages to be somewhat self-motivated (unless she's tired and then there's no helping at all).
The next big item on the helping list would be HELPING YOUR BROTHER LEARN TO SHARE, because her currently strategy of yelling "MINE" every time he yells "MINE" is not working for some reason or another.
Naptime
I sit down at the computer after ignoring Ruben for the last 20 minutes as he put himself to sleep for nap. He's fallen asleep by himself before, but not really. When he was 9 and 10 months old we would try to let him cry it out and he would participate until he threw up. We gave up that route because who really volunteers to clean up puke. Then when I cold-turkeyed him from nursing, we started walking him to sleep. That slowly turned into reading him to sleep, but now books are too engaging so we're back around to crying it out. Currently the kids share a room, so I'm not usually patient enough to let Ruben cry it out when June is obviously more tired and ready to fall asleep. So today when Karl said he was going to take June to work with him so she can help with a construction project (more on that later), I decided it was time. I needed to see if he could do it. Now that I know he can, I'm much more apt to tell him he has to.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Another Speedy Catch-up
The weeks fly by and I forget that I don't have the memory in my brain to capture all of this stuff permanently.
The weather has been crazy this year. March was unseasonably warm. April continued to be warm and dry (not many April showers). May started with rain and ended with heat. June has come and I've pulled out sweaters twice in the last week.
No matter the weather, the kids love to be outside. June is really good at opening doors now and thinks it is her responsibility to open all the doors for everyone and gets fairly upset if someone happens to open a door that she had claimed dibs on. This makes getting places somewhat difficult since there is usually a big traffic jam at the door while we wait for June (who is always last to be ready already) to get to the door to open it.
Once outdoors, the kids have a couple hangout spots. After Ruben's nap, they love to sit on the front stoop and wait for the mail or wait for Karl to get home depending on the time. While in the front yard, Ruben pulls the snapdragon flowers off the potted plants and picks up all the rocks from around the pots and puts them in the pots or on the sidewalk. June takes Nova's tie-up leash (unless Nova's out there with them) and pretends it is a microphone or a phone or whatever other prop she needs for her latest one-act. They're actually quite content to spend hours in the front yard. I'm pretty sure it makes the neighbors nervous because I usually don't come out with them right away but keep track of them from the kitchen or living room while I try to get something done. However, the front step is a great place to read a book as well.
The back yard is the other option especially when I'm cooking or doing dishes since I can see the back yard from the kitchen window. We recently got a Little Tykes play house from some friends who had outgrown it. It is amazingly fun to play in, unless it happens to be a warm day, and then it is a safety hazard because it becomes its own easy-bake oven.
The newest place to hang out is the garage and driveway. Some other friends moved away (sniff, sniff) and gave us their old big wheel bike and scooter. June has struggled with pedaling her tricycle (I think it is actually the tricycle that is the biggest problem, not her large motor skill), but the first time she sat down on the big wheel bike she managed to pedal all the way out of the garage until she discovered that the buttons on the big wheel bike played songs so now we're back to just sitting and pushing buttons instead of pedaling. The scooter is a hit. She loves to show people (especially Ruben) how she can stand with one foot and push with the other. It is nice master something so easily. Ruben is content to take his little pushalong bike and run it headlong down the driveway which makes me incredibly nervous because whenever he runs it looks like all his momentum is in his head, not his feet. One of these days he will take a faceplant that may require a doctor or hospital visit.
It was so dry at the end of May, the ground was starting to crack where the grass was thinner. What a great excuse to pull out the sprinkler. Plus, it gave me incentive to till up some of the yard I de-gardened and actually plant some grass seed.
June loves to play in the sprinkler, but as you can see, Ruben just hides his face in Karl or my neck and begs us to stop with such torture. We do not. I consider it retribution for all those nights he doesn't sleep.
The weather has been crazy this year. March was unseasonably warm. April continued to be warm and dry (not many April showers). May started with rain and ended with heat. June has come and I've pulled out sweaters twice in the last week.
No matter the weather, the kids love to be outside. June is really good at opening doors now and thinks it is her responsibility to open all the doors for everyone and gets fairly upset if someone happens to open a door that she had claimed dibs on. This makes getting places somewhat difficult since there is usually a big traffic jam at the door while we wait for June (who is always last to be ready already) to get to the door to open it.
Once outdoors, the kids have a couple hangout spots. After Ruben's nap, they love to sit on the front stoop and wait for the mail or wait for Karl to get home depending on the time. While in the front yard, Ruben pulls the snapdragon flowers off the potted plants and picks up all the rocks from around the pots and puts them in the pots or on the sidewalk. June takes Nova's tie-up leash (unless Nova's out there with them) and pretends it is a microphone or a phone or whatever other prop she needs for her latest one-act. They're actually quite content to spend hours in the front yard. I'm pretty sure it makes the neighbors nervous because I usually don't come out with them right away but keep track of them from the kitchen or living room while I try to get something done. However, the front step is a great place to read a book as well.
The back yard is the other option especially when I'm cooking or doing dishes since I can see the back yard from the kitchen window. We recently got a Little Tykes play house from some friends who had outgrown it. It is amazingly fun to play in, unless it happens to be a warm day, and then it is a safety hazard because it becomes its own easy-bake oven.
The newest place to hang out is the garage and driveway. Some other friends moved away (sniff, sniff) and gave us their old big wheel bike and scooter. June has struggled with pedaling her tricycle (I think it is actually the tricycle that is the biggest problem, not her large motor skill), but the first time she sat down on the big wheel bike she managed to pedal all the way out of the garage until she discovered that the buttons on the big wheel bike played songs so now we're back to just sitting and pushing buttons instead of pedaling. The scooter is a hit. She loves to show people (especially Ruben) how she can stand with one foot and push with the other. It is nice master something so easily. Ruben is content to take his little pushalong bike and run it headlong down the driveway which makes me incredibly nervous because whenever he runs it looks like all his momentum is in his head, not his feet. One of these days he will take a faceplant that may require a doctor or hospital visit.
It was so dry at the end of May, the ground was starting to crack where the grass was thinner. What a great excuse to pull out the sprinkler. Plus, it gave me incentive to till up some of the yard I de-gardened and actually plant some grass seed.
June loves to play in the sprinkler, but as you can see, Ruben just hides his face in Karl or my neck and begs us to stop with such torture. We do not. I consider it retribution for all those nights he doesn't sleep.
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